The All-Wheel Drive warning light illuminates when the ignition switch is turned to the “ON” position and turns off after the engine has started.

For AT models
This light flashes if the vehicle is driven with tires of different diameters fitted on its wheels or with the air pressure excessively low in any of its tires.

For CVT models
This light illuminates when All-Wheel Drive is disengaged and the drive mechanism is switched to Front Wheel Drive for maintenance or similar purposes.
This light flashes if the vehicle is driven with tires of different diameters fitted on its wheels or with the air pressure excessively low in any of its tires. (underlines added)

Yet, the OP's car in the linked thread was driven with the compact spare for long distances without any warning light coming on. The statement about the AWD light flashing if an odd size or low pressure tire is being used has now been repeated in the Owners Manual from at least 2005 on, yet no one has ever reported the light coming on in either case.

There was a thread here in 2009 about using the AWD disabling fuse where, finally, a representative from SOA confirmed that the fuse wasn't applicable if the car has VDC. But is this really the case given that even in 2011, there's still the indication that if a tire has a different circumference the AWD light should flash, even if the fuse is no longer available! (See especially the SOA response in this post: (http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/...tml#post192912)

its a japaneese car, more than likely that feature is not available on cars sold in north america, but that doesn't really make sense because of how much we love accessories/luxury features. honda brought us acura, toyota-lexus, nissan-infiniti, maybe subaru is planning luxaru

My Australian 3.6 Premium has the auto wipers. They're not too bad, however they don't always "read" the rain drops perfectly requiring the occasional manual assistance. They seem to be most ineffective at dusk. Something about the light level seems to confuse them and they don't wipe often enough. That said, under normal conditions they work quite well.

Interesting that you say that doug5k, I just bought a 2012 3.6R with auto wipers and find that they are too frequent even on the '-' setting and worse (although not a great deal different) on the '+' setting. Do you use RainX or similar ? I usually do but haven't got as far as putting it on yet and not sure how it will affect the sensor.

The All-Wheel Drive warning light illuminates when the ignition switch is turned to the “ON” position and turns off after the engine has started.

For AT models
This light flashes if the vehicle is driven with tires of different diameters fitted on its wheels or with the air pressure excessively low in any of its tires.

For CVT models
This light illuminates when All-Wheel Drive is disengaged and the drive mechanism is switched to Front Wheel Drive for maintenance or similar purposes.
This light flashes if the vehicle is driven with tires of different diameters fitted on its wheels or with the air pressure excessively low in any of its tires. (underlines added)

Yet, the OP's car in the linked thread was driven with the compact spare for long distances without any warning light coming on. The statement about the AWD light flashing if an odd size or low pressure tire is being used has now been repeated in the Owners Manual from at least 2005 on, yet no one has ever reported the light coming on in either case.

There was a thread here in 2009 about using the AWD disabling fuse where, finally, a representative from SOA confirmed that the fuse wasn't applicable if the car has VDC. But is this really the case given that even in 2011, there's still the indication that if a tire has a different circumference the AWD light should flash, even if the fuse is no longer available! (See especially the SOA response in this post: (http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/...tml#post192912)

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